Westside Cowboy Play Brooklyn: Backstage and In the Crowd
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Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Not everything is better across the pond. At the first night of their three-show fall tour of the U.S., Westside Cowboy were impressed by the engineers at Music Hall of Williamsburg, with the band talking excitedly during soundcheck about just how good everything was sounding. Playing DIY venues for years, they were used to making do with less-than-ideal performance circumstances, but they didn’t have to this time.
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Westside Cowboy and Star Moles
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Bandmates meet tour opener Star Moles, otherwise known as Emily Moales, before the show. Moales, who was just named a Rolling Stone Artist You Need to Know, plays a slightly psychedelic breed of rock that was the perfect kickoff to the night. “I never want to write a sad song that’s just sad,” she told Rolling Stone. “I want there to be some sort of arc to it. It’s just my brain when I’m bored, making up enemies on a walk.”
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Westside Cowboy didn’t just sell out Music Hall of Williamsburg, they sold out the rest of their short U.S. run this month, too. (They’ll be back for more shows next spring.) They celebrated backstage with a cake from promoters that read, “Congrats on the sold-out U.S. Tour!” Here, O’Connell does the unveiling.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Haycocks and Murphy take a pre-show break for vegetarian snacks, including some hummus that the band reported as having a questionable texture (“like Play-Doh”). No one in the band eats meat, and they have talked about struggling on the road to find good vegetarian options other than an underwhelming veggie burger.
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Star Moles
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Star Moles relaxes backstage before her set. The Philadelphia-based artist just announced that she is signing with the label Dead Oceans.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Members of Westside Cowboy handwrite the night’s setlist before every show, shortly before they go onstage. Murphy takes a first pass as they discuss song options and then edit based on which guitars are required — this time, they almost forgot crowd favorite “Pin Up Boys.” Then the tour manager takes the final list and creates four clean copies.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone A group photo in the green room before showtime, where trusty black Converse sneakers are clearly popular. Westside Cowboy keep things basic when it comes to stage attire, choosing to perform in casual clothing. They like simplicity: Only one member of the band owns a smartphone.
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Star Moles
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Star Moles kicked the evening off on the keys, with songs from her 2026 release Highway to Hell.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Haycocks adjusts his in-ear monitors before the show starts. He very much believes in the healing power of live music. “That magic of doing things with other people can literally make you live longer, statistically,” he told Rolling Stone.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The band kicked off the night with their single, “Kick Stones (The Boys),” that uses the Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On” as a sonic reference point. Westside Cowboy aren’t interested in reinventing the wheel, just reconnecting with the kind of music that made them feel excited in their own childhoods.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Bradbury gets carried away in the moment. “I don’t necessarily think rock & roll has died or is dead,” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s just moved to England.”
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone O’Connel;, on bass, looks across the stage to her bandmate. Westside Cowboy often alternate vocalists and hamonize on songs, with no one person assuming the primary role of frontperson.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Murphy on drums, providing the backbone to the band’s catchy, propulsive songs. Bradbury and Murphy played together in a “three-piece surf-punk band” before they formed Westside Cowboy, meeting O’Connell and Haycocks at the Royal Northern College of Music.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone When O’Connell joined Westside Cowboy, she hadn’t sung in public in 13 years, and she went to school primarily to study cello. “As a teenager, I mainly listened to string quartets and the Top 40, which was not the coolest thing in the world,” she told Rolling Stone.
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Westside Cowboy
Image Credit: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone The band finishing off the night in harmony. Their next stop on their U.S. tour is in Philadelphia, at the Foundry on Oct. 10.
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